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This evangelical ministry is dedicated to Roman Catholics who desire to know how to be saved. It is our sincere desire to proclaim to you the Good News of Jesus Christ, because the Gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

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Introduction

This website is my gift to Catholics. I am forever grateful and indebted to my parents and teachers who taught me the basics of the Christian faith and the fear of the Lord.

I'm a former Catholic but not an anti-Catholic – I have no grudge or resentment against any individual, and frankly, I love all Catholics. I am all ‘for’ Catholics – even when I question the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. I have made it my aim to 'speak the truth in love' for I have a wonderful message to share.

So what can I give you?

First, I urge you to hold fast to the many truths taught by the Catholic Church, not least the Trinity, the incarnation of the eternal Son, his death on the cross, the resurrection, and his coming again for judgment, and other wholesome biblical doctrines and ethical teaching of the Church.

Sadly there are other teachings and traditions that have come in over the centuries which have obscured the gospel message. I want to help you clear off the dust so that the glory of the grace of God might shine through.

All of us need grace. For we all have broken God’s law, we are guilty before him, and we desperately need to know the way of salvation. This is what I desire to share with you most - the gospel, the good news that Christ came to the world to save sinners. If you are spiritually thirsty, let me show you where I found the Water of Life so that you too may drink and satisfy your soul.

May I invite you to read the following:

1. Answers from the Bible – deals briefly with the main questions that Catholics ask about the way of salvation.

2. What must I do to be saved? – an explanation of the message of the gospel and an invitation to come to Christ for forgiveness and eternal life.

If you have any question, or if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to write to me.

May the Lord richly bless you,

Sincerely,
Joseph Mizzi

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Gospel e-Letter

May 2012

Augustine on the Eucharist

After writing a few sentences about death on my facebook page, someone responded that she did not like what I said. ‘There is nothing to like about it,’ I assured her, ‘except for the glimmer of hope at the end of my entry, namely, that death is not the final word.’ ‘But,’ she replied, ‘that is not what you meant.’ I smiled. Of all people, I should know what I meant.

It is so easy to misunderstand or to misinterpret what others say. This applies to the Bible as well as other writings and speeches. The following quotation from Augustine, and a few similar ones, are often used to prove that the doctrine of transubstantiation was already accepted in the early church.

That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ. (Augustine, Sermons, 227).

Augustine held that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ. Does that mean that Augustine believed that the bread and wine are changed in substance to become the actual body and blood of Christ? Or did he perhaps believe that the bread and wine were figures of the body and blood of our Lord?

The best way to answer is to allow Augustine speak for himself. Augustine uses an analogy to explain the meaning of the Eucharist.

On Easter Sunday, we say, This day the Lord rose from the dead, although so many years have passed since His resurrection. But no one is so foolish as to accuse us of falsehood when we use these phrases, for this reason, that we give such names to these days on the ground of a likeness between them and the days on which the events referred to actually transpired, the day being called the day of that event. (Augustine, Letters, 98).

This Easter I phoned my bed-ridden mother and told her, Today the Lord is risen! Does that mean that Jesus was risen in April 2012? Of course not. Did I lie? No, not if you take my words in the right sense. Augustine applies the same concept to the Eucharist.

For if sacraments had not some points of real resemblance to the things of which they are the sacraments, they would not be sacraments at all. In most cases, moreover, they do in virtue of this likeness bear the names of the realities which they resemble. As, therefore, in a certain manner the sacrament of Christ's body is Christ's body, and the sacrament of Christ's blood is Christ's blood. (Augustine, Letters, 98).

In this ‘certain manner’, therefore, Augustine calls the sacrament ‘Christ’s body’. The bread bears the name of the reality which it resembles, namely, Christ’s body, and the wine is called ‘Christ’s blood’ because it bears the name of the reality it signifies.

Elsewhere Augustine elaborates on the rites of Baptism and the Eucharist,

As soon as any one looks upon these observances he knows to what they refer, and so reveres them not in carnal bondage, but in spiritual freedom. Now, as to follow the letter, and to take signs for the things that are signified by them, is a mark of weakness and bondage… (Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, Bk 3).

Christians take the bread and wine as signs of the body and blood of Christ. We look at the elements and our hearts are lifted to Christ and his sacrifice for us on the cross. That is the way it should be. However, according to Augustine, it is ‘a mark of weakness and bondage’ if we ‘follow the letter’, and mistake the signs for the realities signified by them - i.e. mistake the bread for the body and the wine for the blood of Christ. I encourage the Catholic reader to take Augustine’s warning seriously.

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